Mapping human's digital footprints on the Tibetan Plateau from multi-source geospatial big data

Area of Science:

• Environmental Science
• Geospatial Analysis
• Conservation Biology

Background:

• Accurately quantifying short-term dynamic human impact is crucial for ecosystem and biodiversity conservation.
• Human digital footprints, derived from sources like smartphone data, serve as proxies for dynamic human impact.
• The Tibetan Plateau faces unique environmental challenges, necessitating precise impact assessments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and apply a method for objectively mapping dynamic human digital footprints in the Tibetan Plateau.
• To quantify and analyze the spatial distribution and intensity of human impact across the region.
• To correlate human impact with land use patterns to inform conservation strategies.

Main Methods:

• Utilized geospatial big datasets, including smartphone location requests, microblog check-ins, and geo-tagged photos.
• Developed a fused digital footprint intensity (FDFI) method by integrating location data from multiple sources.
• Converted FDFI to a footprint intensity score (FIS) to infer and map human impact levels.

Main Results:

• The average FIS values in Qinghai and Tibet were low (0.12 and 0.04, respectively).
• Positive FIS values, indicating human impact, were found in only 5.99% of the Tibetan Plateau, concentrated in urban areas and along transportation networks.
• FIS demonstrated a strong correlation with land use, with positive values predominantly in built-up and agricultural lands, while other land uses showed minimal impact.

Conclusions:

• Human activities exert limited overall impact on the Tibetan Plateau.
• The majority of human impact is concentrated in built-up and agricultural land use types.
• The developed digital footprint mapping method provides an objective tool for environmental impact assessment in sensitive regions.